Making mountains out of molehills June 16, 2008 ~ 10:39 am
Posted by Julie in : Drama Queen , comments closedBack in 2003, I had a membership with TDF (Theatre Development Fund). TDF is very cool because it offers tickets to various shows at a discount - a substantial discount if you snag a ticket to a Broadway show from them. You can only become a member if you are a full-time student, full-time teacher, union member, senior (62 or over), civil service employee, staff member of not-for-profit organizations, performing arts professional, or a member of the armed forces or clergy, and you have to send in proof to join. I think when I joined I sent them my business cards from two theaters. At any rate, I let the membership expire and occasionally thought about renewing, but figured it would be too expensive or too much of a pain in the ass or something like that.
Last night while watching the Tonys, I decided there were a bunch of shows I wanted to see. This morning, I decided I was going to renew my TDF membership. I had kept my original email from them in my work email, so I still had my password, and inside of five minutes and $27.50 later, I am again a TDF member and can go to see Cry Baby for $36. Sometimes I seriously wonder why I blow things so far out of proportion. If I would have just checked the damned TDF website, I would have renewed the membership years ago. *facepalm*
Jealousy February 20, 2008 ~ 12:11 pm
Posted by Julie in : About a Julz, Drama Queen , comments closedToday I make a lot of you jealous by saying that tonight Rick and I are going to see Patrick Stewart in his sold-out run of Macbeth at BAM. Because is there anything better than Patrick Stewart performing Shakespeare? Well, there is, and here is where I let you know that sometimes I get jealous, too. The Ex took the Oldest to see this production last week, and afterwards they went out to dinner…with Patrick Stewart.
Dude, there are days when after I get over the fact that my complexion has turned an alarming shade of pea green? I wish the Ex would just adopt me.
T minus four hours till we get the hell out of Dodge! October 19, 2007 ~ 1:55 pm
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Drama Queen, Shorty , comments closedIn preparation for our little theatrical mime-stravaganza “Everyone’s An Asshole” next Monday (details will be up next week for anyone who wants to see it), I went out and bought 45 pieces of poster board on my lunch break. Poster board in large quantities? Heavy and unwieldy. Really looking forward to the commute home this evening. In the rain. Not. (Nothing like a little Wayne’s World quote to get you through a rainy Friday, says me.)
Jordana and I are off to Rick’s this evening and then to Rhinebeck tomorrow morning. If you’re going to the blogger meet-up there, I’m going to be wearing my yellow and white Steelers cap and will be accompanied by a tall beautiful woman with dark hair (Jordana) and the cutest baby in existence. If we miss you at the meet-up but you see us wandering around the grounds? Stop us and say hi! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!
Should do vs. Want to do July 29, 2007 ~ 10:57 am
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Daily Grind, Drama Queen , comments closedThing I should be doing today: reading those last 8 scripts I came home with yesterday. Of course, I should have done that yesterday as well, but didn’t. I wanted to knit or spin or read Harry Potter. Instead I sat on the couch and watched a lot of America’s Next Top Model and Rescue Me. I figured that was a good compromise.
Today, I don’t want to compromise. Part of me wants to do what I did throughout school - read a bit of what I had to, and then wing it once I got to class (the nomination meeting, in this case). However, this won’t fly because dammit, these men will want to discuss our nominations. Feh. I will have to figure out another work around.
In the meantime, cleaning the house is looking good. Oh, and going to Barnes & Noble to spend the $50 gift card I got. And going to the local fruit stand to buy fruit. And spinning and knitting and playing on Ravelry. Hmmm. I might have to compromise again.
ETA: Compromise today obviously means “screw with the blog template,” since my old Regulus one decided to crash and burn. Feh.
Reward time July 25, 2007 ~ 11:23 am
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Drama Queen , comments closedI made it through two and a half scripts last night. I anticipate finishing that half and getting through another one at lunch. Which means only three scripts between now and Friday, and I’m pretty sure I can get that done tomorrow. Dude, I am so going to Stitch n Bitch tonight. All work and no drunken knitting with friends makes Julie a dull, dull girl.
Lit managment: not a good career for Julie July 24, 2007 ~ 10:05 am
Posted by Julie in : Drama Queen , comments closedI slouched into work today with seven scripts on my back. After work, I will drag my script-laden ass into the city, trade those seven in for another seven, and slump home beneath my burden. I figure I will have to do this again over the weekend, and by that point I will have read roughly 40 scripts since I started this at the beginning of July. There are 50 scripts in the pool of nominees we have to cull from, so I figure that if I read 40 of them, and someone else read 40 of them, and the third person on the nominating committee read all 50 of them because he’s the literary manager at the theater and that’s his job, we should be in good shape. Our goal is to provide the committee that actually selects the winner with nine scripts to decide from. Surely from the 40 scripts I’ve read, I should be able to find 3-5 scripts that I like, right?
I am reminded of why I was never interested in the literary management side of dramaturgy, though. New scripts are fine. (Well, some of them. Some of them are really godawful.) But if you’re the lit manager, you’ve got to read all the scripts that come in, and that is a lot more than 50. That’s hundreds of scripts, and a fair amount of them are going to blow. The 50 that I’m reading from are supposed to be the cream of what’s come in this past year. Some of them are excellent. Some of them…I wonder how they got into this pile. The past three weeks of my life have been mostly devoted to script reading. Sure, I got one weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I had been re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while reading the scripts, but the script reading has put as serious halt on my leisure time. It’s like having homework all over again: if I’m not reading scripts, I feel like I should be reading scripts, and the guilt, it hangs over me while I watch America’s Next Top Model reruns.
On August 2, we have our nomination meeting and after I get out of that I will be like a kid in a candy store. I’ll get my knitting time back! I’ll be able to sit down and read all the Harry Potter books back-to-back, notebook in hand, so that I will be able to remember exactly when in Harry’s Hogwarts career what happened. I will be able to sit down and watch everything that’s been backing up on my TiVo, including many episodes of ANTM, Rescue Me, Doctor Who, and yes, even a few episodes of Hey, Paula (I likes me a tranwreck in the making, okay?). I may even finally set up Savvy Brooklyn so that Jordana and I can sell all the damned jewelry we’ve made. And that would be awesome, because hey! More money for beads!!
So basically, August 3 is when school’s out for me. I now remember why I was so happy when I finished grad school.
MFEO April 28, 2007 ~ 1:56 pm
Posted by Julie in : Coupledom, Drama Queen, Rick , comments closedName the movie that title comes from.
Rick and I were watching Letterman the other night when Steve Martin was a guest. Steve Martin proceeds to tell a story about having to be the one to introduce playwright Arthur Miller for an award. As I think everyone knows, Arthur Miller was married to Marilyn Monroe. Steve says that as part of the intro, he was planning a joke that went something along the lines of “Which of these playwrights does not belong in this group: William Shakespeare, Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Steve Martin. The answer is Arthur Miller, because he is the only one who slept with Marilyn Monroe.”
The audience is laughing heartily at this one, but Rick and I look at each other aghast and say “Ooooh, Arthur would hate that!” Which is exactly what the punchline of Steve’s joke was, that Arthur Miller was dead silent when he ran the joke past him ahead of time.
I looked at Rick and said “Obviously we have spent too much time in the theater…everyone else was laughing and you and I were scandalized.” Yet another reason we’re made for each other.
Lists March 19, 2007 ~ 4:12 pm
Posted by Julie in : Academic Office Monkey, Coupledom, Drama Queen, Rick, The Girls , comments closedAccomplished:
- made friends with Maynard the cat.
- bowled 104. Followed by a shite 80. Win some, lose some.
- set land speed record on a toboggan with Youngest.
- several chats with Rick’s mom.
- much quality time with my Weet Boy.
To Do:
- grocery shopping
- laundry
- clean apartment
- cat proof bathroom
- pick up new cat friend for Joe
- go to reading
- print out final draft of script for rehearsals this weekend
- spend more time with Rick
At Work:
-five million degree audits
-don’t kill stupid students asking the same question over and over again
-list of June candidates for graduation to Publications
-list of candidates for Retroactive graduation to Faculty Council
-get set for the six massive lists that go to Faculty Council next month
-proof galleys for Commencement program for Publications
-answer questions Publications has about said galleys
-don’t kill stupid students calling all day long about degree audits I haven’t been able to finish because of stupid phone calls
Down in the Underground. February 25, 2007 ~ 11:42 pm
Posted by Julie in : Drama Queen , comments closed
This is where I spent Saturday. Right underneath those observation towers that doubled as UFOs in Men in Black. And I do mean under. I was at Queens Theatre in the Park for a reading, and while the ground floor of that institution is above ground (thus the name “ground floor”) the theater spaces? Underground. I did not see sunlight after I entered the building at 12:15. Hell, I didn’t see outside again until about 11 last night, when the reading and the talkback were over. The people at QTiP (hehehe…q-tip) were very nice, they kept all of us participating in the reading well fed and watered (they have these things catered for the talent, since there is NOWHERE to buy food out there), they paid me at the end of the day (woohoo! $35! That sounds mean, but this is the first time I have ever been paid for being part of a reading, so I was truly excited.), and most importantly, I got to hear the play I’m going to be dramaturging in March out loud for the first time in over a year.
I’ve been reading various versions of this script for a month now, and while it’s looking tighter and the playwright (my boss at the theatre where I’m resident dramaturg) has incorporated a lot of my suggestions, it’s always different than you thought when you first hear it out loud. Things that you thought were clear? Not so much. Things that you weren’t sure about? Go down a storm. In spite of losing an entire day of my weekend, this was totally worthwhile. Can’t wait to go into rehearsals and start tweaking. Aboveground, where we can see the sunlight on our breaks.
It’s a non-starter January 19, 2007 ~ 10:47 am
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Drama Queen , comments closedI was excited by how much progress I made on my Pomatomus socks up in Woodstock last weekend. I actually thought “Cool, I might finish these this week!” Then I discovered the lunch hour walk. And the “long way home.” And if I do both of these in one day and I rack up 5.5 miles, then when I get home I am tired and have just enough energy to make some food and watch TV. And then my “other job,” the dramaturgy, came into play.
I freelance with a very nice playwright who is a dream to work with. We’ve got a great work vibe going on, and he really thinks about the comments I give him, then asks more questions about them. (This is rare, some people just nod and say “uh huh” when I give them criticism.) He’s asked me to develop a season with him of some new plays and a Shakespeare play. This means that not only do I get to work on new plays, I also get to adapt Shakespeare - it’s like all aspects of dramaturgy in one season and I’m very excited about it. Last night, Rick and I went to see one of this playwright’s plays in a little workshop production, and since I knew I was going to be talking to him at great length at some point this week, I also had to finish reading Timon of Athens, the Shakespeare play we’re considering. So, time away from the knitting to do that. Today I have to write down all my thoughts about last night’s play so that I can email them to him tonight. (No knitting at lunch today, obviously.)
I also got an email from the company where I am resident dramaturg, asking if I could work on a mainstage production this spring. I said sure, especially when they told me I’d get $500 out of the deal. They’ll probably rehearse during the day, so I will only be in rehearsal on weekends, including Easter. Dudes, I would give up Christmas if I got to spend the day being a dramaturg, so this is no problem. However, they need script consults sooner rather than later. And the playwright gave me one draft last week, and then made changes to it, so I’ve got a new draft. Two drafts to be read tonight, to see where the changes are, what I think of them, if more changes/clarifications need to be made. And then notes taken on them as well. So no knitting tonight.
And because I am a huge spazz and forgot my Moleskine at Rick’s this morning, I’m going to have to swing past there tomorrow evening after I usher at Second Stage with my friend Eugene. Because all the creative work must go in the Moleskine, dammit. This way I have records of everything I’ve said on a project so that if we need to make changes, we have documentation of what sparked them. So no knitting tomorrow afternoon, either.
Someday I will finish these socks. As well as I’m doing with the Run-a-go-go thing, that’s how piss-poor my showing in the Lime and Violet Sock Marathon is. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all. And if I’d give up Christmas for dramaturgy, I guess I’d also give up knitting. On a temporary basis, of course.
